Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08RANGOON879
2008-11-12 09:21:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Rangoon
Cable title:  

INFORMING BURMA OFFICIALS ABOUT USG VIEWS ON

Tags:  SOCI EAID PHUM KHIV PGOV SENV BM 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ0000
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHGO #0879/01 3170921
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 120921Z NOV 08
FM AMEMBASSY RANGOON
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8387
INFO RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK 2738
RUEHBS/AMEMBASSY BRUSSELS 0715
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 1626
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 2051
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 4124
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
C O N F I D E N T I A L RANGOON 000879 

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP/MLS, G, S/OGAC, OES
PACOM FOR FPA
BANGKOK FOR USAID HEALTH OFFICE
DEPARTMENT PLEASE PASS TO USAID/AME

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/12/2018
TAGS: SOCI EAID PHUM KHIV PGOV SENV BM
SUBJECT: INFORMING BURMA OFFICIALS ABOUT USG VIEWS ON
GLOBAL FUND

REF: A. EAP/MLS/SCHEIBE-CDA DINGER E-MAIL OF 10/29/08

B. STATE 115494

C. STATE 105179

D. RANGOON 786

E. RANGOON 842

Classified By: CDA Larry Dinger for Reasons 1.4 (b and d).

Summary
-------

C O N F I D E N T I A L RANGOON 000879

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP/MLS, G, S/OGAC, OES
PACOM FOR FPA
BANGKOK FOR USAID HEALTH OFFICE
DEPARTMENT PLEASE PASS TO USAID/AME

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/12/2018
TAGS: SOCI EAID PHUM KHIV PGOV SENV BM
SUBJECT: INFORMING BURMA OFFICIALS ABOUT USG VIEWS ON
GLOBAL FUND

REF: A. EAP/MLS/SCHEIBE-CDA DINGER E-MAIL OF 10/29/08

B. STATE 115494

C. STATE 105179

D. RANGOON 786

E. RANGOON 842

Classified By: CDA Larry Dinger for Reasons 1.4 (b and d).

Summary
--------------


1. (C) As authorized (Ref A),Embassy Rangoon has conveyed
USG views to the regime on a potential Burma Round 9 Global
Fund (GF) application. In conversations with Minister of
Health Dr. Kyaw Myint, Deputy Minister of Health Dr. Mya Oo,
and MOFA Americas Director Yin Yin Oo, the Charge relayed Ref
B and C points, emphasizing the need for the GOB to address
satisfactorily and up front the issues that caused the GF to
terminate its Burma program in 2005, including access to all
GF sites, currency conversion procedures, tax exemption
policies, and safeguards ensuring no GF monies flow through
the regime. The Health Minister and his deputy clearly
received the message and said they would do their best to
ensure that, this time, the Government of Burma would do its
utmost to meet GF requirements. End Summary.

Minister of Health
--------------


2. (C) On October 24 at a reception following a UN Day event
at Nay Pyi Taw, the Minister of Health approached the Charge.
A few days before, as instructed in Ref C, Charge had
conveyed USG preliminary views about a potential Burma GF
application to a group of bilateral donors and UN officials
who had gathered to select the donor representative to the
Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM) (see Ref D). The
Minister clearly had received reports of USG views from the
donor community. Charge sketched USG views directly to the
Minister, noting the U.S. recognition of the need for
assistance in Burma, but raising all the points of concern.
The Minister said his Government wants to apply for Round 9,
intends to comply with GF rules and regulations, but will not
submit an application if the USG intends to oppose it. The

Minister said neither he nor his Government wants to be
"embarrassed" by rejection (see Ref E).


3. (C) On November 3, while preparing for the visit to
Rangoon of Senate Appropriations Committee staff member Paul
Grove, Charge phoned the Minister of Health seeking a meeting
for Grove. The Minister said that, unfortunately, he would
be in China during Grove's November 8-10 visit. Charge took
the opportunity to reiterate USG views concerning a Burma GF
application, as laid out in Ref B. The Minister said he
understood the message, including the need under GF rules to
address satisfactorily in the application itself issues of
past concern. He said he hopes all concerns can be
satisfactorily resolved, and he pledged his support for the
effort. (Note: during Grove's visit, we heard from the Save
the Children Country Director that the Minister was "shaken"
by the phone conversation. The Save the Children Country
Director congratulated Charge for conveying points others
would like to emphasize but can't, given the delicacy of
their positions in Burma.) Charge asked if a Deputy Minister
could meet with Grove, since the Minister would be away. The
Minister agreed to look into that possibility.

The Americas Director
--------------


4. (C) Double tracking, on November 3 the Charge also
contacted MOFA Americas Director Yin Yin Oo to point out the
usefulness of having a senior Ministry of Health official
meet with Mr. Grove to discuss GF issues. In doing so,
Charge discussed the USG points on GF with Yin Yin Oo, who
promised to press for a meeting. Charge followed up on
November 7, but there was no news.

The Deputy Health Minister
--------------


5. (C) At 3:15 p.m. on the afternoon of Saturday, November
8, day one of the Grove visit, MOFA Protocol phoned to inform
the Embassy that Dr. Mya Oo, Deputy Minister of Health, had
flown down from Nay Pyi Taw to meet with Grove at 3:00 p.m.
The Deputy Minister was waiting at the Nurses' University in
Rangoon. The message reached Grove and Charge during a
meeting with the Chinese Ambassador to Burma. The meeting
with the Deputy Minister and a cast of a dozen other Health
Ministry officials began at 4:00 p.m. and lasted about an
hour. (Note: the "Keystone Kops" aspect of the GOB
scheduling effort did not escape Mr. Grove's attention.)


6. (C) In the meeting with the Deputy Minister, Mr. Grove
left GF discussion to the Charge, who clearly reiterated Ref
B and C points. Grove later confirmed the message was
clearly stated. When the Deputy Minister proposed that the
USG should convey its views through the MOFA diplomatic
channel, the Charge acknowledged having discussed the issue
with MOFA but pointed out that the USG views reflect GF
application requirements for Burma that are being considered
in the CCM process. The Deputy Minister proposed that, while
he can give assurance the Health Ministry will do everything
in its power to conform to GF rules and regulations, some
issues are beyond Health Ministry control and are within the
purview of the Ministry of Finance and others. Charge
responded that it is the Government of Burma that puts
forward a GF proposal, not simply the Health Ministry, so all
elements of Government need to be on board with any
assurances provided. On the flow of funds, the Deputy
Minister said the Government of Burma accepts that not even a
penny of GF assistance is to flow through the Government. He
vowed that the Health Ministry will make every effort to
provide all the assurances necessary for a successful GF
application.


7. (C) The next morning (November 9),when Mr. Grove and
Charge arrived at the Rangoon airport for a helicopter trip
to observe post-cyclone Nargis relief operations, the Deputy
Minister of Health was in the departure lounge waiting for
his return flight to Nay Pyi Taw. During the ensuing
twenty-minute conversation, the GF was discussed briefly; the
Deputy Minister mainly used the time to describe his
ministry's efforts to meet the health needs of the people of
Burma.

Comment
--------------


8. (C) There can be no doubt: the Burmese Ministry of Health
has received loud and clear the USG's points about a
prospective GF application. Now that the application
deadline for Round 9 has slipped from January to May 2009,
the CCM has more time to address the need for GOB assurances
-- coordinated throughout the government -- prior to Burma's
submission of a new GF application. We believe the Health
Ministry will do its best to deliver on any commitments made.
However, a reality is that others at higher levels hold the
real power in Burma, and, even if the intentions are good,
the regime's "Keystone Kops" bureaucracy makes the fulfilling
of promises uneven at best. Despite such concerns, the Three
Diseases Fund (3DF) donors consider their program a success.
Such assistance clearly saves many lives in Burma and offers
public-health protection to the broader region. A separate
reporting cable will describe Mr. Grove's visit to Rangoon,
including several other meetings in which Mr. Grove heard
from NGOs, bilateral donors, the UN, and others about how the
3DF has been operating in Burma and how a renewed GF might
operate successfully here.


DINGER